


from a distance

by 1nterlaced



Category: Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26879011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1nterlaced/pseuds/1nterlaced
Summary: exploring what it might look like if kaito had met any of the other girls before lucia!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. hanon

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! these are so interesting to write for tbh- i really believe kaito would have fallen in love with lucia anyway, so it's been fun trying to see how this might affect the girls he meets!

1\. Hanon looks right at the reflection in the mirror, trying to reconcile it with what she knows to be true and what the truth has become. Her eyes are brown, now, and the handcrafted traditional stars in her bangs are gone, replaced now with tiny clips she'd found at the store to keep her fringe out of her face.

Her eyes weren't the same, but the girl staring back at her was. At least, that's what she thought. Hoped.

2\. The teacher introduces her to the class with a false name. Well, her real name and the just-for-humans bit tacked on to the beginning.

The first day of class is just as nerve-wracking as it had been back home (which she misses), and even more so because not everyone has known her name since they were children. She's seated next to a boy who's next to a red-head named Kaito. (Who she recognizes.)

His eyes aren't the same, but the boy staring back at her was. Hopefully, he'd learned to swim by now.

3\. He sits by her at lunch. She's made friends with the girl that sits directly in front of her, and they're chatting about the latest issue of Non-no when he walks over and interrupts.

"Hey, do you mind if I steal her from you for a bit, Mina?"

"Oh- no problem, Kaito." Mina winks in a way she must know is not subtle and gives her a thumbs-up, rushing away from the table so she can eavesdrop from ten feet away. Human girls were sly like that. Hanon could appreciate it. 

"I'm-"

"-- Domouto Kaito. The girls around school have a lot to say about you, you know?" Hanon turns to face him and crosses one leg over the other. She flashes a smile. "All good, of course."

Kaito smiles back. "I'd hope so. You're Hosho, right?"

She comes up with about ten different responses to that in her head. _For now_. _Because I have to be_. _Could I be anyone else_?

Instead, she nods, folding her hands in front of her in her lap. "It seems like it."


	2. sara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm surprised i wrote this! i really only had a solid idea for hanon and rina, but this ended up being interesting too! please enjoy! <3

1\. Kaito doesn't have a lot of family left. His parents are gone, and when they pass, his aunt tells him he's being entrusted to a close family friend- Tarou Mitsuki. Kaito's used to all the travel from being with his father, so being with Tarou is nothing new. Kaito knows the backstage of a performance hall like the back of his hand by the time he's 6. 

They end up in Germany, traveling for Tarou's music career, and one day, when the sky is clear, Tarou meets Sara. She's like a big sister to him- he gets the idea she's something else to Tarou. She's the first person he sees Tarou make googly eyes at. 

Sara teaches him about sharks and turtles, about love, and the magical kingdoms under the sea with princesses to rule them. Sara never mentions that she's one of them. 

Sara brings gifts with her whenever she comes to see them, and when Kaito jumps in the water after her, she's always there to catch him. They're family. Tarou and Sara hold hands sometimes, too, like his mom and dad did. 

Kaito never wants it to end. One day, Tarou asks him if he wants to leave. 

"I've been thinking, Kaito."

Kaito looks up from the orange seashell in his palm. 

Tarou smiles weakly. 

"Wouldn't you like to go back home?"

Kaito's surprised. He thought Germany was home. 

The airport they drive to is by the sea. When they land in Japan, Kaito wonders why they hadn't said goodbye. 

After Germany, Tarou seems far away. Kaito takes up surfing. 

2\. He spends the rest of his childhood on the water because it feels like home. He moves into his parent's old house when he enters middle school, on the condition that he transfer to the school where Tarou teaches. 

Nanami Lucia is a lot of things. A ditz, sure- but an interesting ditz. She's funny and if he were into her, he'd say she's kinda cute. 

Nanami Lucia is also a mermaid. He doesn't mention it because Sara told him about the legend, but she's really not very good at hiding it, he thinks. Not if you knew where to look. 

"Well, what is a bicycle, anyway?" Lucia asks, huffing and puffing at Kengo for kind of but not really picking on her when she mentions she can't ride a bike. 

Kaito takes the liberty of butting in before she says anything else, fearful of Kengo's response. 

"You know, if you want to learn, I can take you some time." He offers, trying to give her an out.

"Kaito?" She blinks owlishly at him, surprised. She looks kind of flustered, but Kaito brushes it off as nerves. 

"A ride?"

"Yup, I can teach you. What do you say?" 

Lucia pumps her fist in the air, cheeks tinged the same red as her hair ties. "For sure! My first official bike ride- oh, Kaito, do you have a bike I can borrow?" 

3\. Lucia almost confesses her identity to him a lot. He'd spotted her in her mermaid form at the aquarium one time, and it'd been nonstop trying to keep her from turning into bubbles ever since. They totally don't like each other, Kaito tells himself in the mirror, but sometimes when she's not running around at 100 miles a minute, he almost wants to tell her that he knows. 

He wonders what life was like for her before coming on land. The last thing he needs is for his not-crush to turn into bubbles, though, and he's not super clear on how the legend works, so he lets his thoughts be thoughts. 

"You know, Kaito... sometimes, I get homesick." 

"Homesick? Oh- you transferred here suddenly, right?" Kaito pushes his luck a little. "Did you move from for away?"

Lucia shakes her head. "It's not far at all, but- it can really feel that way, sometimes. I miss everyone." 

Kaito nods, tucking his hands into his pockets. "I get that. It's tough being away from family." 

4\. Tarou and Sara wrote a song together. He remembers it, despite how long it's been, and when Tarou invites him over for dinner one night, Kaito asks him to play it. 

"If you still know it, I mean. I know it's been a while."

Tarou plays the song like he's been laid bare. There's a sorrow to it now, and Kaito thinks it sounds like he's been playing and replaying the same song for the past seven years. 

5\. Sara's hair is pitch black, Tarou is missing, and Kaito finds out he has powers. It's a hard few days. 

Kaito regains some of his family because they find Sara and meet Gaito, but Sara does nothing but frown at him and Gaito is- he doesn't know _what_ Gaito is. 

The mermaid princesses need help, but luckily his big brother Gaito kidnaps him so that he can be there for all the action. 

"Sara. You can come back with us- we can go home." Kaito holds out a hand to her, pleading alongside a blonde mermaid making the same requests. He doesn't know if he means Germany, or Japan, or even the Indian Ocean, but Sara has a look in her eye like she's resigned herself to this new life, and Kaito doesn't care for it one bit. He's just gotten his family back-nosey aunt notwithstanding. 

Sara gives one hundred percent of herself in everything she does. She gave herself and her love over to Tarou, and now, when the palace starts sinking with Gaito in it, Sara gives herself to him, too. 

She leaves her pearl with him and Lucia. 

"Take care of her." 

Kaito frowns. "Who's going to take care of you, Sara?" He questions, chest stirring with something like grief. 

She smiles at him and cups his cheek. Her hand is warm, and when she leaves, Kaito decides that if nothing in his life is going to be conventional, then his family isn't going to be, either. 

He holds onto Lucia's hand tight as they swim up to the surface. 


	3. rina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this because of course i did.... shoutout to @timeaftersometime for the inspiration on their interactions with eachother. they brought up a lot of things that i hadn't considered yet when thinking about rina and kaito's relationship and this fic is just the culmination of wanting to explore it!
> 
> please enjoy! <3

1\. She spots him the moment she steps foot in the room. Her expression doesn't move, of course, but it's been a rough week. Seeing his face is just another reminder of how much things have changed.

It's unmistakable. The same figure, the same hair- the same everything, except Gaito is supposed to be out conquering another kingdom and tucking Noel safely into his castle, deep where she won't be able to reach her without help, and this boy is sitting in her new classroom, joking around with his friends while class starts. She can't catch a glimpse of his eyes.

The teacher walks her in and signals for her to stand in front of the class while she writes her name on the board and introduces her. The boy looks directly at her as she stands next to the teacher's desk, and Rina forgets to smile. It's unmistakable.

"This is Touin Rina, your new classmate. Please treat her well."

His eyes are sharper, his laugh is deeper- it makes sense, of course, because he's older and not a literal eight-year-old anymore. Their eyes lock onto each other's from across the room, and Rina doesn't just recognize him because he looks like Gaito. Rina _knows_ him.

2\. "I'm Kaito Doumoto. I know there's a lot to look at, but try not to stare, Touin."

He was trying to get her to smile, the bright white of his teeth staring back at her. Instead, she raises an eyebrow at him, contemplating taking the chalkboard eraser in her hand and chucking it at him. She's never been known to miss a target. 

"Let me know if you ever need a tour around the school, 'kay?"

Rina doesn't say a thing, which seems to unsettle him. She was determined to keep her life above the surface quiet, hoping that if she kept her head down and kept to herself, this time away from home would be a distant memory soon.

Kaito blinks at her, then laughs when he realizes he's not getting an answer. Is he trying to befriend her? 

"Say, when you walked into class- you almost seemed familiar. Have we met before?" He probes her for answers, leaning on one of the desks across the room.

Rina stiffens when he asks the question, alert and nervous and trying not to look like it, but she leaves a beat of silence and he must have noticed it. 

She glances at the clock. Would it kill the time to move faster? This (second) first day of school needs to be over, and soon. 

"I'm not from here. I doubt we've ever met." 

Rina turns to the chalkboard and starts wiping it down, hoping he'd be quiet. 

"I used to travel a lot, maybe we have. Where are you from?"

No such luck. 

"You've never heard of it, I'm sure," She insists. 

"Try me." 

Rina decides she's finished wiping down the chalkboard at that moment and drops the eraser onto the desk with a small clang. "I'm done cleaning the board. I'm going home." 

Kaito frowns.

3\. Explaining it to Hanon is a trip and a half. 

"You're so mysterious, Rina- you come to class one day, you've got everyone talking about you, and now you've got the most popular kid in the class in your clutches? Did you come to the human world to try and see if you could win it?"

"Win it?" Rina shrugs off the comments and sighs. "The last thing I want to do is stand out, trust me."

Rina lowers her voice a bit, mindful of the people walking around them as they head home from school. "Don't you think it's weird, though? He just so happened to be at the same school?"

Hanon doesn't catch the hint, or she does and ignores it, because she clasps her hand in front of her and gushes, "It's fate, definitely!"

Rina rolls her eyes, moving her bag to hold it over her shoulder. "Nevermind that, Hanon-"

"Picture this: sunset, a Mermaid Princess, and a simple human boy, drawn together by the currents of the seven seas!"

Rina looks over at her, questioning. "He was drowning, Hanon. That's all."

4\. She was having a moment- several moments, really. After the battle with the water demon, she'd brought Kaito onto a flat rock on an abandoned part of the beach, because she couldn't let him drown, of course, not when she was part of the reason he'd been taken by Izuru in the first place. He was breathing, and he was a fine swimmer, but she couldn't bring herself to leave him until he woke up, not with Noel still fresh in her mind.

Rina was sitting on the other side of the rock she'd hoisted him on, noting that it wasn't big enough to give her the amount of distance she wanted between them. She was trying not to let him see her face too closely, but she was kind of ruining the point by looking back at him to see if he had woken up yet. 

As soon as he came to, she could jump into the water and swim away. At least, that's what she had planned. 

"You haven't changed." 

Rina reaches one hand up to her cheek and her hand comes back wet. It isn't seawater. 

She swallows hard. "I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this. I-"

Her teeth click shut. "I thought you might not..."

Kaito looks serious, now. A stark difference from the boy she'd been in class with during the week. "Did you doubt me?"

Rina looks back down at him, wondering if he knew exactly how much she had doubted him. Gaito was sending his minions after her, she knew, and now Kaito was getting caught in the middle of it. 

She takes hold of his hand with hers, an action she chalks up to another 'moment' and looks out at the water so she doesn't have to look at him. She looks into the sunset and sees his eyes. 

"We need to stop meeting like this." 

Kaito laughs quietly despite all he's been through in the past hour, sitting up so that if she were facing him, they would be at eye level. 

He squeezes her hand lightly. 

"I think it's worth it."

5\. "Hanon! The past is the past. He's not going to realize it was me- it's been too long," Rina reconsiders her words, and continues. "And I won't let him. That little incident at the beach is the last time."

"I don't think Kaito's the type to get the hint- plus, he's got plenty of opportunities to talk to you. Aren't you guys cleaning the classroom together?"

"Trust me, I'll get him to leave me alone. More importantly," Rina motions for Hanon to stop walking, pulling her over to the side of the walkway.

"Did you see the new girl this morning?"

Hanon nods, motioning to the aqua necklace around her neck. "Pink necklace, right out for everyone to see. Nanami Lucia, right?"

6\. Hanon was right. He tries to talk to her, and often.

"So, you made friends with Hosho, right? I saw you guys sitting together during lunch."

Rina stops cleaning for a moment to consider it. Friends?

"I guess so."

"Good for you. For a second, I thought you might keep up the lone wolf energy for the whole year." 

"I'm fine either way." Rina looks him up and down pointedly. "I don't need people looking after me."

Kaito laughs, and Rina isn't sure why.

7\. "So, where did you say you were from again?"

"I didn't."

8\. "Okay. Operation: Find Out Whether Nanami Lucia is a Mermaid. First: points in favor, and then points against. What's your hypothesis, Rina?"

Rina crosses her arms over her chest, perched on the couch in Hanon's apartment. "Is this necessary?"

Hanon looks over at her from the other side of the couch, legs crossed and serious despite the fake glasses she's put on for her little show. "Isn't it?"

Pura blows a flurry of bubbles from inside her bowl. Traitor. 

"See, even Pura agrees! Now, the first point, please!"

Rina sighs. "She wears a pink mermaid necklace."

"One point in favor. Next: she claims she's a foreign exchange student, but when Daichi asked her from where, she froze up and didn't answer!"

Rina smiles, a slight tease in her voice. "It wouldn't be the first time a mermaid froze up at that question."

Hanon scoffs, indignant and pink dusting her cheeks. "I was caught off guard!" 

"I'll be sure to let your people from 'far west of here' know."

Hanon coughs, taking a sip from her peach tea to hide her embarrassment. 

"Still," Rina continues, "Maybe she was just nervous? She seems kind of..."

Hanon smiles from behind her mug. "Interesting, for sure. That brings me to my next point: I ran into Momo and he told me that the North Pacific's palace has been taking more protective measures to secure their walls: this means that not only could Lucia be a pink mermaid, but she could also be the Princess!"

"Momo?" Rina tilts her head, considering the implications. "Isn't she kind of ...reckless for a princess?"

Hanon nods dramatically. "It's the perfect disguise. Nobody would think a princess would be so hyperactive!"

"I guess we could wait until the next time the water demons appear. She might try to help."

9\. "You surf?" 

She's seen him before at the beach, gliding through the waves on his board. She'd read about it in a book (that she definitely didn't pick up after she saw him).

Kaito looks surprised that she's asking. "I do. Since I was little." 

It was a strange-looking sport. Rina could almost picture them from under the surface, arms jutting out awkwardly off the side of the surfboard and making them look like sea lions. 

"Who taught you?"

Kaito smiles, small and quiet, staring at the floor for a moment, lost in thought. Rina wonders what he's remembering. "My parents. Well, my dad."

Rina hesitates to ask, quietly remembering the information on his parents Hanon had insisted on telling her despite her efforts to the contrary. "Your parents are gone now, right? I heard you live alone."

She can see him pulling back and away, wiping a desk down slowly as he continues to make his way around the room.

"I do." 

Rina wonders about the Gaito situation. She wonders about Kaito, too, and the ruins of the palace in the North Atlantic. 

"I live alone, too."

10\. "Hey, Touin!"

Rina sits up from the sand, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "Kaito?"

"You looked bored over here. Mind if I sit?"

The sky is bright blue, dotted with wisps of white. It's good weather for company. 

He doesn't wait for her answer, and he lays down with his arms behind his head, eyes closed. The sand sticks to his arms- he'd just come out of the water.

Rina looks down at him questioningly. "Are you practicing?"

"Yeah, just a little further down from here. I spotted you from the water." He opens one eye to look up at her, and she scoots a little further from him.

"Wanna come in for a swim? I could teach you how to surf."

Rina looks back to the sea. The little ripples in the water glitter and wave at her, the color of the walls deep in the halls of the Arctic palace. 

"I don't swim," She claims. 

Kaito sits up, surprised. "Really? You picked the wrong town to move to."

Rina turns her head to blink at him, then laughs. "I guess so. I-" She swallows, and to him, it must have seemed like she was having trouble getting it out. She was, but not for the same reason he might think.

"I almost drowned once, when I was little. So, I don't swim." 

"You don't seem afraid of the water, though. That's good."

Rina shrugs. "There's nothing to be afraid of if I don't get it in. The sea is beautiful."

Kaito leans back on his arms slowly, looking out at the ocean. He sighs. "Yeah, it is."

11\. Rina learns it's easier to answer his questions than to leave him wondering. At least that way, she can lead him off her trail, which is getting harder and harder, and he won't get that wistful look on his face when he looks at her.

"So, what did you do this weekend?"

"I competed in a fashion show," She divulges. 

Kaito looks almost confused. "You're into that sort of thing?" 

"No, I'm not. I was doing someone a favor."

"Did you win?"

"I did."

Kaito whistles, of all the responses, and Rina decides she doesn't care for that at all, and so she leaves him to clean the classroom by himself, cheeks flushed as she slides the classroom door shut behind her. 

12\. The three of them are sitting together at Pearl Piari, one of the North Pacific Palace's only pieces of human property- it was spacious, close to the sea, and had a way of generating income. When Nikora had explained the rationale behind it, Rina thought it was genius. 

Hanon and Lucia were talking about their latest exploits in their attempts at human romance, and how to achieve the current-swept look for your hair when there was no current above the surface, and Rina was sitting with them, but she wasn't really paying attention. 

"Are you alright, Rina? You seem distracted." 

Rina takes another sip of her green tea and hums, not fully hearing the question. 

"Rina?"

Rina's pulled out of her own thoughts, putting her drink down to look over at Lucia, expression purposely neutral. "Yes?"

"I said you seem distracted." Lucia looks almost worried, tilting her head at her. Had she been out of it for so long?

"I'm not. I was just thinking," Rina offers, dismissive. 

"About what?"

"Nothing in particular," Rina says, taking another sip of her tea. 

Lucia hesitates, a solemn look coming over her for a moment. Lucia had some kind of supernatural knack for befriending people, Rina had noticed, and seeing them for their kindness. She seemed simple and naïve, and she kind of was, but she had a way about her that Rina could appreciate.

Lucia lets a smile light up her face. "You know you can tell us anything, right, Rina?"

Hanon makes a hum of agreement from across the table. "Yeah! We're all friends now."

"Of course."

She wants to say they shouldn't worry about her, but she knows that would only make them worry about her more. It wasn't necessary, really. 

Lucia catches her alone, later, when she's finished her second cup of green tea and is about to head home to her apartment.

"You're not alone in this, Rina. We're here too. With you- for you." 

Rina nods, and offers her a small smile, patting her quietly on the shoulder, the bright green of her ring catching her eye as she does. 

"I'm alright, Lucia."

13\. "And you know, it's not like the drama's not any good- but do they have to leave it on a cliffhanger every episode?" Hanon pouts, taking a bite of a 'cheesecake' flavored cookie. 

Rina thinks the show is a bit too dramatic for her tastes. She's started to prefer comedy, lately.

"I guess that's how they keep you watching. It's nothing compared to your sunset romance with Kaito, but it's definitely got Lucia hooked!" Hanon laughs lightly, finishing her cookie and waving her hand around to keep herself from laughing through the sentence. 

"You know, Hippo won't admit it, but I think I caught him and Lucia chatting about it the other day--" 

"It was dawn." 

Hanon freezes. "What?"

Rina braces herself. "When we met. It was dawn."

Hanon puts down the cookie she had just picked up without taking a single bite and brings her hand up to cover her mouth in shock. 

"No way."

Rina suddenly thinks the color of the walls is the most fascinating thing in the world. Hanon shrieks. 

"No way!"

"I don't know _what_ you're thinking, but-"

"You like him! You totally like him!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Hanon brings the back of her palm up to her forehead, sighing dramatically as she falls back down on the couch. 

"Oh, I feel faint. Rina fell in love before I got together with my beloved--"

Rina crosses her arms, fixing her eyes on the TV in front of them. She needed to get her own plasma, and _fast_.

14.

He doesn’t start playing all at once. He hasn’t played the piano in ages, not since he entered middle school, and when he gets the impulse to play it again, the desire comes back in waves. Slowly, but convincingly, like he needed it to get to something almost within his reach. It leaves him grasping for something, anything, but all he has is his father’s music, a bright light in place of childhood memories, and the photobook back home.

”You know how to play the piano, right, Kaito?” 

Kaito nods, surprised that Hanon came to talk to him without Rina and Lucia. “I do.” 

“Could you play this for me? It just doesn’t come out right when I try.”

She hands him the sheet music. It’s a piece he’s never heard of before, but luckily, sight-reading was one of his strong suits. He had his father to thank for it. The melody is kind and playful- it reminds him of the ocean. To be fair, a lot of things did lately. 

“This is nice- Ever Blue? Did you write this?” 

“Yes! Well, I made the song. I had Mitsuki-sensei help me put together the sheet music.” Hanon sighs, drumming her fingers on the top of the piano. “I doubt I’m going to be able to learn it in time for the project. You don’t think I’ll be able to get an extension based on my good looks, do you?” 

Kaito chuckles, looking up from the keys to wink at her. “If that was how things worked, I’d be top of the class.” 

Hanon laughs. “You and me both. Hey-“ She gets a bright flash in her eye as she watches him, leaning on to the piano and smiling like she wants something. She totally does, but that’s beside the point. 

“Hosho?”

“Do you want a partner for the music project? With your piano playing, I’m sure you could get anybody a good grade!” 

Kaito stops, considering. “Hm... I’m not sure.” 

“Why not? Come on, Kaito- for your best friend’s best friend!”

Kaito looks dead serious for a moment. “Only if you buy me a hotdog afterschool. Today.” 

“What?”

”Today!”

”Fine, fine!”

Kaito laughs, standing up from the piano bench. “I look forward to working with you, Hosho!”

”Oh- you think you’re working with me?” Hanon smiles, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I’m partnered up. I’ve got someone better in mind for you!”

15\. "It's beautiful." 

"Thanks. I haven't played piano in a while, so I'm a little rusty." 

Rina leans back in the chair she set up next to the piano, pulling a knee up to rest her arm on it. "Why'd you stop?" 

Kaito shrugs, dodging the question. "I just did. Hanon and Lucia caught me playing sometime last week, so I've been thinking about playing since then. It's a little addicting, to be honest." 

Rina tilts her head at him, teasing. "If you played as often as you surfed, Mitsuki-sensei would probably make you demonstrate for the class more often."

Kaito laughs, turning to look out the windows on the other side of the music room. "Yeah, probably." 

"Honestly, playing piano, surfing... they're both important to me. I've always lived by the ocean, and there's something about the piano that reminds me of the sea. That's part of the reason why I play." 

Rina nods, suddenly quiet. 

"It reminds me of someone." Kaito looks over at Rina in time to see her turn from him and face the windows. 

"A friend?" Rina asks. 

Kaito pulls down the key cover and looks up, his gaze on the side of Rina's face. "Something like that. A childhood friend."

Rina sighs and stands up. He'd notice if she stayed too quiet. "Well, I don't want to bore you by making you swap childhood stories with me. We should keep practicing for tomorrow- I have to head home soon, anyway."

"Right. The forecast said it was going to rain later tonight, so we should hurry. I can walk you home." 

"You think I'm gonna get lost?" 

Kaito rolls his eyes, an exasperated smile on his face. "Yeah, right. We're going the same way anyway, Touin."

Rina moves over to her desk, a small smile on her face as she puts her music notebook back in her bag. "I'm fine with it. We'll practice one more time, and then we can go. I'm not getting caught in the rain because of your piano-playing addiction."

16\. It's not that she cares, or that he should, but he's been inching closer to her every time they clean the classroom together. He used to start on the opposite side of the room, sweeping and busying himself with the tasks farthest from the chalkboard. (Probably because she hit him with the eraser that one time, but still.)

She'd liked it that way, really. It kept him at a distance, which is exactly where he needed to be, physically and emotionally. 

Rina hasn't said a word to him since last week. She didn't think there was anything to say. They'd crossed some sort of line, it seems, where she didn't know whether he looked at her and saw the mermaid or just Rina, or if that bothered her. He looked all the more confused for what happened- like the kiss couldn't prove what he thought he knew, or like it had blurred the line between a childhood friend or a new one. 

Because that's what they are. Friends. 

They catch each other's eyes from time to time, from across the classroom. They clean in silence, hurried and pensive, and Rina thinks of her duty. 

17\. Nikora mentions that they might not return to the surface. The castle is making preparations for Lucia's return, and they've graciously offered to host the Atlantic princesses alongside her. Lucia pouts at having to leave the human world, wanting to celebrate her 14th birthday above the surface, but Rina knows that it's inevitable. Even if they don't leave the surface permanently today, it might be tomorrow, she thinks. 

She asks the teacher to have someone take her place during cleaning duty. She doesn't tell Kaito. 

18\. The North Pacific palace is beautiful. Bright, illuminating the seafloor around it with the sweet pink of its exterior, hopeful and untouched. Lucia and Hanon are roaming the halls around the throne room, chatting about the not-so-secret surprise party that the pink mermaids were throwing Lucia for her birthday. Rina was, well-

Rina was behind a pillar. Of all the people, Kaito Doumoto is standing near one of the entrances of the palace, dressed in some sort of foreign regalia that she can't quite place. Momo had left him there like it was the most normal thing in the world, to bring a human being to a mermaid kingdom. 

"Hello? Anybody... home?" Kaito questions, his voice echoing off the walls. 

The last thing he needed to do was attract attention. Or worse, start asking questions to the poor handmaid that found him here. 

Rina emerges quietly, unbelieving that this was really Kaito, really here, and that he'd found his way to her from across the ocean. Again. 

He turns with a flurry of his cape when the water shifts and they stare at each other in surprise. 

"You're here. I've been trying to find you-" Kaito takes a step forward, and Rina doesn't move. 

"Is this your home?"

She doesn't say a word, swimming closer with a quiet kick of her tail. He looks regal. 

Kaito is staring at her, and she can't really blame him, but she can't answer his questions, either. Not without revealing entirely too much. A human had no business knowing about all of this- about her. 

Rina pulls her shoulders back, silently hoping that Hanon and Lucia don't come looking for her. "How did you get here?"

"I'm not sure. Momo brought me here, but I'm not sure why. But-"

He takes another step towards her, pleading. "I've been looking for you. For a while now." 

"Rina, I need to know-"

Her heart stops, and she flinches internally. Was that intentional?

"Rina?" She questions. 

From behind her, the ceiling caves in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) i hope you liked it!


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